XYZ
by fumika-chan
Summary: A new, better version of my old DN fanfic. Same great characters, same great taste. If you eat paper. Spoilers, eventual pairings. Original characters.


A/N: This is a test. But just in case this works, Death Note belongs to... not me. The end.

"He's late," murmured L, walking into the main lobby of the ICPO building. The top detectives from all the countries that Kira had attacked were supposed to be coming to a large meeting about Kira, but so far everyone but the U.S. detective on time, and L and Raito were walking around, looking for 'him'.

Raito looked at him curiously. "How are you so sure it's a he?" L had asked him to come, as he was now a part of the investigation team, and Raito had accepted, eager to find out what the U.S. knew so far.

L bit his thumb. "It's a feeling, I suppose. In fact, the chances of the detective being male are about 90. Maybe more." Suddenly he froze; he smelled it; sweet sugary icing, light fluffy batter; _cake._ He pounced.

There was a loud crash as two foreheads collided over a small piece of cake. The orderer of said cake was the other forehead; it was a tall, slim girl with cropped, black hair and a short sleeved white shirt and black tie.

L felt dazed slightly; it had been quite a hard hit to the head. He hoped the blow didn't affect his powers of deduction. Matsuda, who had run up behind them to inform L that they were to begin the meeting with or without the main American detective, regarded the crash with horror. He sprinted to L's side and pulled him up, then turned and berated the young girl. "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you look where you were going? You could have damaged Ryuuzaki-san's mind! Then what would we do?"

The girl turned away, her hair shading her eyes and face, making them impossible to see. "Gomen," she murmured, and sprinted off into the crowd.

Matsuda glared after the girl and helped L to his feet. "Honestly, some people,' he muttered. He glanced at his younger companion. "Right, Raito-kun?"

Raito snapped out of a daze and stared at him. He hadn't actually realized Matsuda had been there, and was rather confused. "Hmm? Oh, yes. Definitely." He looked around and finally found a clock hanging from the wall. "We'd better go," he said, walking briskly back to the meeting room. "They'll all be waiting."

L and Matsuda murmured in agreement and followed after him.

Luckily, the meeting hadn't started yet, but as Raito, Matsuda, and L sat down about ten minutes later, the door was violently thrown open, and a voice said, "Sorry I'm late, I was trying to get some food, and some guy ran into me, and his jerky friend yelled at me." A tall, black haired girl of about nineteen walked in, dressed in a short sleeved shirt and a black tie.

"Konnichiwa. My name is Yumi, and for reasons of security and habit, you may call me Y."

Her face, formerly invisible to Raito and L, was very pale, and she looked rather sickly. Her eyes were a bright blue, at deep contrast with her dark hair.

She sat at the head of the table, the only seat available, and was also the seat next to Matsuda, who stood up and exclaimed, "W-Wait just a second! What do you think you're doing? This is a confidential meeting!"

'Y' glanced at him. "What are you, stupid?" she asked him bluntly. "Psssh. Always shouting at people. If I were you and you were me, I think that I'd have enough sense not to yell at someone who came thousands of miles to be here, late or not."

Another officer stood up. "You-you mean you're the U.S. detective?" he asked, eyes widening.

'Y' glanced up. "Isn't it obvious by now?" she questioned. "I'm beginning to wonder if this was a big waste of time."

Raito smiled and bowed. "I would like to apologize for my companion's idiocy. I would also like to assure you that Ryuuzaki and I are not as moronic." The other officers gave him hurtful looks, which he ignored.

She looked at him suspiciously, then sank back in her chair a little. "Then let the meeting begin."

L stood. "Hai." He switched on his laptop, which Watari had dutifully placed in front of him, and turned it towards the group. A map of Japan popped up on the wall. "Now then, the areas that Kira has attacked mainly was-"

"Here, here, and here." Matsuda leapt out of his seat and grabbed a red marker from the bin in the middle of the table. He was eager for an opportunity to prove himself to that American that the Japanese police forces were most certainly not morons. Especially not him.

He quickly circled the areas, turned, and said, "From the information we have already gathered, we have gathered that Kira cannot be in this area." He circled it in green. He circled about one fourth of Japan.

"Yes, that certainly narrows it down quite a bit," Y (what a stupid name, Matsuda thought sulkily) drawled, "and congratulations on circling on the walls in permanent marker. However, I notice that you didn't circle this area here for where Kira isn't." She circled about another one third in the green marker. "It was proved that he wasn't there. Why didn't you circle it?"

"Why did you?" he demanded. "We never got any information about this. Did we?" he turned to his team mates for support. They all nodded, except for Yagami Sr., who turned to L in suspicion.

Y peered at him closely. "Really? You received nothing of the sort? I was given papers upon my arrival about all this to be kept abreast of the happenings here. You should have known about that too, of course, unless… L doesn't trust his police."

L peered over the top of his laptop. "That's ridiculous. I trust my police force more than anyone. That is, other than Raito-kun here."

Y raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? Is that why I also received leaked footage from your headquarters with you two chained together?" She smirked. "My my, I never knew that you guys were into that sort of thing…"

Raito was confused. Why would L send her a tape of them chained together? And why would he lie about it? That wasn't like him. He had no idea that it had, in fact been him that had arranged for the footage to be sent, along with the top secret information that had been given to him by L, and to no one else.

There was a long, awkward silence, which was finally broken by Yagami Sr., who said, "Perhaps we should just get on with the meeting, then?"

The other officers murmured in agreement, but three people at the table were silent: Raito, who was busy silently analyzing the situation(and, subconsciously, his victory), and L and Y, who were having an intense mental battle, simply staring at each other and not answering any questions they were asked.

Directly after the meeting, Y disappeared without a word, leaving the others to question her responsibility- after all, she couldn't have been more than nineteen, maybe twenty-one at the most.

Raito was still busy reveling in his success when L suddenly appeared beside him and said, "Raito-kun, I'd deeply appreciate it if you would accompany me to Y-san's house to apologize for my behavior, and also to request she give back the leaked footage, of course." He paused. "And I suppose that if you wish, you may apologize again for Matsuda's lack of intelligence."

Raito smiled. "Certainly, Ryuuzaki. Where is she?"

L frowned. "That's the problem. I don't really know. I was wondering if maybe you could get the password for the main computer from your father. I wouldn't want to hack unless absolutely necessary."

Raito, of course, already knew the password, but decided that instead of giving Ryuuzaki more reason to suspect him of Kira, he would go and talk to his father. After a few moments of silent debate and explanation, he returned with a small slip of paper.

"Arigatou," murmured L. They quickly retreated to a back room with a computer and typed in the password. They scanned the database and finally found the address. To Raito's dismay, it did not show her full name; only what he knew of it, and it was probably a fake, for that matter. Suddenly, he recognized the address. "That house is just around the street from college," he noted. "It's pretty old, but they've been doing renovations on it recently. It's also probably the biggest house in the area."

"Hmmm…" murmured L, once again biting his thumb. "Well then, off we go."

About twenty minutes later, they were at the house. Raito had been correct about the size; it was huge and castle like, complete with three turrets.

"Hmm. It's not quite in Japan's traditional style, is it?" Ryuuzaki questioned, stepping through the gate. He worked his way up to the front door, and waited for Raito. They stood silently for a moment, then Raito rang the doorbell, as Ryuuzaki's were indisposed, one in his pocket, the other in his mouth

The door was cautiously opened. "H-Hello?"


End file.
